TBM Co.

Executive Summary

TBM Co. is a privately held Japanese environmental technology company worth over one billion dollars. It created a substance called LIMEX, which is made from limestone and lowers greenhouse gas emissions by 37 percent when compared to standard plastics. Even though the business brings in 100 million dollars in yearly sales, it still loses 15 million dollars every year because it costs so much money to build and run factories around the world. A valuation of 1.3 billion dollars supported by Goldman Sachs highlights the value of the legal protections on its inventions and its chance to challenge industries that use lots of oil and water. Major risks involve the difficulty of building bigger machines and price wars with the existing big players that sell cheap plastic. This initial public offering acts as a major test to see if businesses based on new material science can actually make money while recycling resources. Investors have to weigh the fast expansion and unique business advantages of TBM against the constant pressure on its profits. Future success relies on getting companies globally to use the product and getting big enough to lower costs across many industries.